Before becoming an educator, ELA department chair Laura Messner thought she wanted to be a lawyer. After working in real estate and environmental law and then intellectual property defense litigation, Messner stepped back and realized this type of work wasn’t her passion. Knowing the strong impact her teachers had on her own life, she decided to pursue a career in public education. 

With experience in the English and history departments at Gates Middle School and Scituate High School, Messner has been teaching in Scituate for fifteen years. Although she has taught several different grade levels, Messner said teaching 8th graders world history was her favorite experience: “I learned so much through teaching that course–it totally changed my whole perspective on the world,” she said.  Messner added, “I learned how to be a teacher at Gates because it is so focused on the learning process and not just on content.”

According to Messner, teaching at the high school is very content-focused compared to the middle school, and there is the expectation that students are at a certain level right at the start. She said, “When I went to Gates, I learned a lot about how to meet kids where they are.” Her experience as a middle school teacher taught her that everyone’s learning process and experiences are different.

This year, Messner teaches sophomore English and works with grades 6-12 as the English department chair. She noted that her job is fun but takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Having good mentors has been helpful, and she tries to continue that legacy by setting a great example within Scituate Public Schools.